Stranger Things season 4 part 1 ending explained: Who is Vecna?

Netflix just dropped the first seven episodes of Stranger Things season 4 in the early hours this morning and fans are seriously in for a wild ride. If you couldn’t tell by the trailer, the highly-anticipated season is the biggest one yet, and with a reported budget of $30 million an episode, I know the expectations have been high. Some of the stars of the show had already been teasing that season 4 is the “darkest” and “scariest,” and now we know that it’s true!

As we already learned before the season 4 volume 1 release, the new villain from the Upside Down this time around is Vecna, a character who’s originally from Dungeons & Dragons. Vecna is a dark wizard who can put people under his spell, which is exactly what he does to a few poor victims in the new episodes.

MAJOR spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 4 part 1.

Vecna is introduced in the premiere of Stranger Things season 4 as he follows the popular cheerleader named Chrissy (Grace Van Dien). By the end of the episode, he possesses her mind and brings her into the Upside Down to end her “suffering.” This just means he kills her, which is really disturbing and sad. The way Vecna kills his victims is always the same — makes them levitate with some type of mind control, breaks their bones, and rips out their eyes. Their bodies are quite terrifying when people find them.

As the murders continue happening in Hawkins, Dr. Owens (Paul Reiser) goes to see Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) to try and convince her to come back to save the day again. Although she doesn’t have her powers, he believes she can get them back if she agrees to go with him. They go back to his lab in Nevada with Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) — surprise, he’s really alive! — and start doing tests. The doctors put Eleven in an isolation tank to recall her memories in order to regain her powers.

Meanwhile, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) uses her journalism skills back in Hawkins to try and find a lead on the murders. She hears about a man named Victor Creel (Robert Englund) who’s living at the Pennhurst Mental Hospital after allegedly murdering his family back in the ’50s. She thinks he might know something about what’s going on in Hawkins now, and she and Robin (Maya Hawke) go talk to him at the asylum. During their chat, Creel explains what happened to him and his family, noting that his son Henry was a “sensitive child.” When his wife and daughter were killed that fateful night, Henry fell into a coma. Creel doesn’t share what happened to Henry after that.

As Eleven starts to remember her time back in the Rainbow Room, she recalls meeting an orderly who goes by Peter Ballard (Jamie Campbell Bower). He’s kind to her in her memories, and they even form a plan to escape Hawkins Lab together. However, once Peter comes up with solid steps for El to leave, he reveals that he never can because he has a tracking chip in his neck. Eleven decides she’s going to help him because he helped her so much, and uses her powers to remove the chip.

Their escape plan is underway when Eleven hears screams and sees blood all over the hallway and rooms. She sees Dr. Brenner passed out on the floor, and everyone else is dead. She walks into the Rainbow Room and sees the orderly in there, as it’s revealed he’s the perpetrator. The scene from the beginning of the season 4 premiere which suggests Eleven is the one who kills everyone is now explained, as we find out it’s Peter who committed the murders!

So how does this all connect to Vecna? Well, we’ll explain.

Stranger Things twist: Vecna is really Number One

When El walks into the Rainbow Room and sees everything that the orderly had done, he starts to explain. As this happens, we also get a scene of Nancy (Natalia Dyer) in real-time, trapped in the Upside Down being confronted by Vecna. She walks through the Creel House and starts finding out answers just as Peter is talking to Eleven.

Through a flashback and Peter’s narration, we learn that he’s Victor Creel’s son, Henry. Back in the 1950s when his family moved into the house, he was alone and felt different. He started becoming obsessed with spiders he found in the house and realized he preferred them to humans, the latter of which he considered “pests.” He hated all the rules and routines in life and wanted something more. He wanted to bring balance back to the world he found so broken. He wanted to become a predator, but for “good.”

Peter started with animals, reaching into their minds with his powers. He moved on to his parents, trying to show them who they really were, but it didn’t take long for his mom to realize something was wrong. She called a doctor to examine him, which is why he decided to kill her. With each life he took, he grew stronger. But because he was a child, using his powers so much injured him, and he almost killed himself when he killed the rest of his family. That’s why he fell into a coma.

After he killed his parents and sister, Peter woke up in a coma to a very intrigued Dr. Brenner, who took him. But once he realized he couldn’t control Peter, Dr. Brenner decided he would make more of him, which is why he started experimenting on children. Peter was Number One in Brenner’s program! We finally understand how it all started!

In Eleven’s memories, Peter asks her to go with him so they can “reshape the world together.” Unsurprisingly, she says no, and then throws him at the wall with her powers. Eleven starts to think about her sad and angry memories, including being bullied at the lab and her mom being taken away from her. Peter takes back control and almost kills El as we see her start to levitate. However, she’s able to use her powers and she almost kills him, but instead opens a gate to the Upside Down and throws him in there.

Stranger Things season 4 volume 1 ending explained: Vecna and the Upside Down

We then cut to Peter being thrown into the Upside Down and completely transforming into Vecna as thunder and lightning hits him. As the episode ends, the camera zooms into his wrist, which shows the 001 tattoo. This proves, if you didn’t already realize, that he’s Number One.

This is a HUGE reveal that starts getting set up in the premiere episode when we see the flashback of Eleven in the Rainbow Room. This means the villain of the season was originally one of Dr. Brenner’s experiments just like El, and that the Upside Down has powers that can turn a human into something supernatural. We also finally learn how El opened up the gate to the Upside Down which started the events of season 1 ahead of Will’s (Noah Schnapp) disappearance. Did Eleven create the Upside Down? I don’t think so, but that’s definitely going to be a big question from fans after watching this episode.

The ending of season 4 volume 1 is so important and is probably the best finale we’ve gotten from Stranger Things so far, besides the ending of season 3 which is my personal favorite (because of how emotional it is!).

I am so excited to see what happens when Stranger Things season 4 returns with part 2. Don’t miss the final two episodes when they debut on Netflix on July 1, 2022!